Despite the extensive research demonstrating the importance of child executive functioning (EF) for school adjustment, little longitudinal work has formally examined developmental change in EF during the early school years. Based on a sample of 106 mother-child dyads, the current longitudinal study investigated patterns of growth in child performance on three executive tasks between kindergarten (M = 6 years) and Grade 3 (M = 9 years), and the predictive role of earlier mother-child attachment security in these patterns. The results suggest that early elementary school is a period of significant developmental improvement in child EF, although child performance on different EF tasks follows distinct trajectories across time. The study also provides evidence for a sustained relation between children's early attachment security and their ongoing acquisition of executive skills.

This study investigated the role of temperamental anger in toddlerhood in the prediction of child socio-emotional functioning at school entry and the moderating function of mother-child interactions in these predictive associations. The sample included 86 children. To assess child temperamental anger, mothers and fathers completed the Anger proneness scale of the Toddler Behavior Assessment Questionnaire when children were aged 2 years. The quality of motherchild interactions was also assessed when children were 2 years old with the Mutually Responsive Orientation scale. Child internalizing, externalizing and prosocial behaviors were reported by parents in kindergarten and first grade with the Child Behavior Checklist and the Socio-Affective Profile. The results indicated that anger proneness predicted higher internalizing and externalizing behavior, and lower prosocial behavior. In the case of internalizing behavior, the effect of anger was qualified by an interaction with the quality of mother-child interaction: anger proneness predicted higher internalizing behavior only among children who had higherquality interactions with their mothers. These findings suggest that simultaneous consideration of temperament and parent-child relationships early on in development may help identify children at risk for experiencing adjustment difficulties at school entry, allowing for prompt intervention before difficulties crystallize.

Objective. This paper aimed to examine the contributions of a second assessment time point of attachment security, along with assessments of maternal behavior (sensitivity and autonomy support), to the prediction of children's behavior problems. Design. The sample included 73 mother-child dyads. Maternal behavior and mother-child attachment were assessed when children were between 15 months and 2 years old. Children's internalizing and externalizing problems were reported by their teachers in kindergarten and first grade. Results. The results indicated that each assessment time point of attachment security, as well as maternal behavior, explained a comparable portion of the variance in children's anxious/depressed behavior, jointly predicting more than three times the variance that would have been explained by either measure of attachment alone. Conclusion. Researchers should consider a multidimensional approach to the assessment of the quality of mother-child relationships, at least when attempting to explain the development of child internalizing problems. MOTHER-CHILD RELATIONSHIPS AND CHILD FUNCTIONING 3 INTRODUCTION Early childhood is a salient period for social, emotional and cognitive development (Eisenberg, Fabes, & Spinrad, 2006; Goswami, 2008). Research shows that children's psychosocial adjustment during this period is one of the main factors influencing their adaptation to school and academic success (Chen, Rubin, & Li, 1997; Duncan & Magnuson, 2011). Although psychosocial adjustment can be conceptualized in several ways, studies have often focused on the assessment of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. Research shows that such behavior problems not only are concerning and disruptive in their own right, but also relate to several other important aspects of children's functioning, such as cognitive development

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Despite being a well-documented predictor of children's cognitive and social development, sibship has received remarkably little attention in the attachment and maternal sensitivity literature. The only study that has examined both sensitivity and attachment in relation to sibship found greater maternal sensitivity but no more secure attachment among first-born infants. In the current study, we sought to examine the same links while testing two related hypotheses: that sibship size relates only to some specific aspects of sensitivity, and that sibship size relates to sensitivity only among certain mothers, namely those who are at risk for suboptimal parenting because of an insecure attachment state of mind. We assessed three dimensions of maternal sensitivity at 12 months and child attachment at 15 and 25 months among 258 mother-infant dyads living in intact biparental families. Compared with mothers who had fewer children, those with more children were observed to be less accessible/available, less positive, but not less cooperative/attuned, when interacting with their infant. These links were moderated by maternal attachment state of mind, such that significant relations were observed only among mothers presenting a more insecure state of mind. Finally, sibship size was unrelated to attachment. These findings suggest that failure to consider different dimensions of sensitivity or important parental moderators may result in the erroneous conclusion that birth order and sibship size are inconsequential for parent-child relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record